Dreams and Well-Being

i Dreams and Well-Being Susan A. Gilchrist July 2013 Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Human Sciences) at the University of Tasmania ii Statement of originality I declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it does not contain material from published sources without proper acknowledgement, nor does it contain material which has been accepted for the award of any other higher degree or graduate diploma in any university. signed: ____________________________ Sue Gilchrist, July, 2013 This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act, 1968. Signed: ______________________________ Sue Gilchrist, July 2013 iii Contents Acknowledgements vii Papers, conference presentations and other presentations emanating from the research viii List of Tables ix Abstract 1 Introduction 3 Chapter 1. Literature on Dreaming 6 Defining dreams 6 Functions of dreams in relation to well-being 7 Function of dreams 7 Well-being 19 Emotion in dreams 23 Themes in dreams 25 Working with dreams 27 Chapter 2. Dream Emotions, Waking Emotions, Personality Characteristics And Well-being: A positive psychology approach. 28 Dream emotions, personality characteristics and well-being research 28 Dreaming and Waking emotions 31 First Study – Hypotheses 33 Method 34 Participants 34 iv Materials 35 Procedure 38 Results 39 Discussion 47 Conclusion 51 Chapter 3. Intra-Individual Relationships between Waking and Dream Emotions 53 Literature Review 53 Second Study - Method 57 Participants 57 Materials 58 Procedure 58 Results 58 Discussion 64 Conclusion 66 Chapter 4. Approaching Therapeutic Dreamwork 69 Defining Dreamwork 70 Psychoanalytical – Freudian 73 Jungian 73 Gestalt 74 Behavioural Therapy 75 Lucid dreaming 76 v Imagery Rehearsal Therapy 77 Hypnotherapy – pre-sleep instructions 77 Dreamwork group facilitation 79 Group roles 81 Communication 81 Participant safety 82 Ethics in dreamwork 83 Chapter 5. The Role of Dreamwork Sessions in Improving Waking Well-being 85 Dreams as Guidance throughout History 86 Dreams and Cognition: Functionality in dreams 87 Working with Dreamwork Groups 89 Theoretical Background to the Current Dreamwork Groups 97 Third Study - Method 104 Participants 104 Materials 105 Procedure 106 Dreamwork process 109 Trustworthiness of qualitative research 112 Results 114 Quantitative well-being measures 121 Discussion 123 vi Chapter 6. Dreamwork Case Studies and Participants’ Experiences 129 Ground Rules 129 Individual Case Studies 130 Chapter 7. General Summary and Conclusion 140 Limitations of the Research 143 Future Directions 145 Conclusion 147 References 148 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many grateful thanks to all my research participants your contributions were essential and invaluable, there could not be a thesis without you. I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Sarah Staats and Dave Watson in providing guidance on the scoring of the Staats Hope Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule respectively, and Mark Blechner for information on his use of the Ullman approach with Student Analysts. At the University of Tasmania Shayne Lynch, Glenn Bilsborrow and Rod Garton for discussions around categorising emotions, Hartmann’s shortened boundary questionnaire, and dreams in parapsychology; Sabrina Maeder and Sally Cooper for assistance with statistical analyses and interpretation; Sarah Parish for data entry; Dr. Elaine Hart for advice on safeguarding participant’s mental health; Dr. Ted Thompson for guidance on positive psychology; and Dr. Frances Martin for support, advice and seeing a route forward in the last furlong when I was ready to concede defeat. I am extremely grateful to Dr. John Davidson, my primary supervisor who, despite retirement, continued to supervise me throughout my candidature; his advice, support, guidance and patience were invaluable as was his knowledge of dream research and statistical expertise. Also my associate supervisor Associate Professor Jane Shakespeare-Finch of QUT who, even at a distance, managed to repeatedly resurrect my enthusiasm, self-belief and sense of humour as well as providing a depth of knowledge on qualitative research, positive psychology and more practical input without which I would still be adrift, many thanks for all your support. My employers Relationships Australia Tasmania for providing study leave, especially my former manager, Roseanne Brumby for her unfailing encouragement and support. Finally, to my family and friends in Australia and in the UK who have supported my endeavours, especially Carol Ramsay, Pat Fairhurst, Margaret Scott, Annette Thomas, Helen Scarr and Vivienne Davey who never doubted my ability to finish what I had started and kept reminding me of that fact. Thank you all. Sue Gilchrist viii Papers, conference presentations and other presentations emanating from the research contained in this thesis. Chapter 2: Gilchrist, S., Davidson, J., & Shakespeare-Finch, J. (2006). Dream emotions, waking emotions, personality characteristics and well-being – preliminary findings. International Association for the Study of Dreams Conference, Bridgewater, Mass., USA Gilchrist, S., Davidson, J., & Shakespeare-Finch, J. (2007). Dream emotions, waking emotions, personality characteristics and well-being – a positive psychology approach. Dreaming, 17, 172-185. Chapter 5: Gilchrist, S., Shakespeare-Finch, J., & Davidson, J. (2009). The Role of Dream-work in Improving Well-being. Paper presented at the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia Conference, Canberra. Gilchrist, S., Shakespeare-Finch, J., & Davidson, J. (2010). The Benefits of Dream-work for Waking Well-being. Paper presented at the University of Tasmania Cradle Coast Post-graduate Conference, Burnie. Chapter 6: Gilchrist, S. (2010 & 2012) The use of dreamwork in therapy. Counsellor training seminar for Relationships Australia Tasmania. Gilchrist, S. (2013) The use of dreamwork in therapy. Counsellor training workshops, Carlisle, Cumbria, UK. ix List of Tables Table 2.1 Breakdown of all Participants in Study 1 into Age Groupings. 35 Table 2.2 Means and Standard Deviations of Emotional Categories in Dreaming and Waking Conditions. 41 Table 2.3 Correlations Between Personality Characteristics and Ratings of Positive and Negative Dream Emotions Averaged Over a Three-Week Period. 42 Table 2.4 Correlations Between Waking Emotions (averaged over three weeks) and Dream Emotions (also averaged over three weeks). 44 Table 2.5 Regression Analyses Predicting Dream Emotions from Personality Characteristics and Waking Emotions. 46 Table 3.1 Summary of Intra-individual Correlations Between Negative Emotion Ratings for Waking Day and Subsequent Dreams (rwd), and Dreams With Following Day (rfd), and the Number of Ratings on Which the Correlations are Based. 60 Table 3.2 Summary of Intra-individual Correlations Between Positive Emotion Ratings for Waking Day and Subsequent Dreams (rwd), and Dreams With Following Day (rfd), and the Number of Ratings on Which the Correlations are Based. 61 Table 3.3 Summary of Intra-individual Correlations Between Total Negative Emotion Ratings and Total Positive Emotion Ratings for Waking Day and Subsequent Dreams (rwd), and Dreams with Following Day (rfd). 62 Table 3.4 Means and Standard Deviations of the Intra-individual Means and Standard Deviations for all Waking and Dreaming Emotions of Participants with at Least 20 Nights of Dream Emotions Recorded. 63 Table 5.1 Key Effects and Frequency of Effects Reported by Participants After Taking Part in a Series of Dreamwork Sessions. 120 Table 5.2 Means and Standard Deviations of Changes in Well-being Measures (post-test – pre-test) for Dreamwork Participants and Control Group Members. 122 Table 5.3 Well-being Measures t-test for Equality of Means of Change of Scores Post-testing minus Pre-testing. 123 DREAMS AND WELL-BEING 1 Abstract Anecdotal evidence abounds of the connection between improved well-being and understanding of one’s own dreams. Unfortunately, evidence often comes from dream workers, dream interpreters, or other people with a particular interest in dreams who cannot be viewed as impartial; the evidence usually does not have a basis in scientific study. The objective of the research and studies reported in this thesis was to bring scientific rigour to the exploration of the effects of dreams on participants. This objective of robustness was achieved across three studies by using longitudinal and cross-sectional, quantitative and qualitative approaches investigating several areas: the source of dreams, contributory factors to the nature of dreams, emotions in dreams and in waking life, and methods for recording dreams. A definition of well-being had to be established, methods found for measuring well-being, methods of working with dreams both individually and in groups, and experiments devised to record any changes in affect attributable to participant’s exploration of their dreams. The first study (N=123) looked at the connection between personality characteristics, waking events, thoughts and emotions, with those experienced in dreams. A strong correlation was found between the emotions experienced in waking life and those present in dreams. Only a few weak relationships were found between dream emotions and well-being measures. The second study investigated the intra-individual relationship between waking and dream emotions, using data collected from 32 participants over an eight week period. Analyses were carried out

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